Nitish Kumar, the leader of the Janta Dal (United), recently declared a new “Grand Alliance” that includes Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other opposition parties. He is expected to take the oath of office as Bihar’s chief minister once more on Wednesday afternoon.
Tejashwi Yadav is also likely to swear to serve as deputy chief minister.
After meeting with the governor of Bihar, Nitish Kumar and Tejaswi Yadav of the RJD held a joint press conference. They represented seven parties, 164 MLAs, and an independent MLA.
On a day of dramatically shifting political dynamics in Bihar, Kumar broke his alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) National Democratic Alliance and joined forces with the RJD.
The oath-taking ceremony will take place at Raj Bhavan at 2 pm, according to a tweet from Kumar’s new alliance partner, RJD.
The party said in a tweet from its official handle that the swearing-in ceremony of the Honorable Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister will be held tomorrow at 2 pm at Raj Bhavan.
In a day of quick political developments, Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, met with governor Phagu Chauhan twice: once to submit his resignation as the NDA’s chief minister, and again after being chosen to head the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance), to stake a new claim for the position.
A list of 164 MLAs was submitted to the governor. The state Assembly’s magic number is 122, while its effective strength is 242.
Tejashwi Yadav criticised the BJP and asserted that the party lacks an ally in the Hindi heartland.
He charged that the BJP works to undermine the parties it forms alliances with.
“Across the Hindi heartland, the BJP does not have any alliance partners. History shows that the BJP destroys the parties with whom it forms alliances. We did see that happening in Punjab and Maharashtra, “he said.
He also mentioned the BJP president, JP Nadda.
He said, “JP Nadda said they will end regional parties. BJP knows only to intimidate and buy people. All of us wanted the BJP’s shouldn’t be implemented in Bihar, we all know Laluji stopped the ‘Rath’ of Advaniji, and we won’t relent at any cost.”
After Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal, JD-U is the third significant ally to depart the BJP in the last three years.
